I'd like to hear from you all, to see how you differentiate between true hunger and head hunger. I see that I'm eating less, making sure to eat less (b/c my restriction is lacking with aid!). Somehow to me, it's not making sense…and I'm almost acting as if I must eat. I am diabetic so I have to be sure to eat enough to keep my sugars up.

:help:

Any suggestions on how to best cope?

I wish I could help, but I am struggling, too. Page down to the bottom of this thread and you'll find links to a few other Head Hunger threads. Maybe something there will help?

You wrote:

If you eat a bite or two and your desire to eat more remains....you aren't feeding 'real' hunger....

Is that saying, two bites should curb my hunger? Satisfy the tummy?

I guess I struggle with 'enough food to fuel the body'. I suppose that should not be a concern, as I'm not an athlete.

welcome back Jack, I've missed your words of wisdom.

I always think of the old joke: How many hardboiled eggs can a giant eat on an empty stomach?

One then his stomach isn't empty anymore.

I have been banded since sept of 06. I never really knew what it felt like to be hunger. Do you know that your stomach actually growls when it is empty?

I too am a diabetic and have been off meds since my surgury. I now occasionally have low blood sugar and need to eat something, but my latest bllod tests show that my blood sugars for the most part are very good.

I have been struggling with portion sizes lately to. I had a major stress in my life lately and was more focused on other things. I haven't lost any weight since April. I haven't gained any either so I think it's a win.

It can be hard to stop eating when your no longer hungry, but that is the time to stop. I aim for no longer hungry, not full.

So should I eat that 'one egg' to satisfy the growls? I know that in the mornings, I feel hungry. The rest of the day, I'm really not sure.

Isn't it a bad thing NOT to eat; feeling hungry or not?

I'm with Sherilynn on the question of how much is enough. We've all read that you should eat slowly and stop eating before you're full so that your brain can get the signal that you are full. Is that true with the band? Do you eat 1/2 a cup because that is what you are supposed to eat or does your banded stomach feel full almost instantly? For me stopping after 1/2 cup of carrots is no problem. But 1/2 a cup of spaghetti is another story. I will be banded on August 2 so I have no idea yet what it is going to feel like. Please be as specific as possible about the actual physical sensation of fullness with a properly filled band. Should 1/2 cup of the right, healthy foods give you a sensation of physical fullness?

I think that when you are truly hungry you will want to eat almost anything - you will want real food - but when you are suffering from head hunger then you are specifically hungry for a treat. This may be a sweet or a salty carb depending on your personal weakness.

As for the other question, once you are banded and you have good restriction you will simply be unable to eat as much as before and you will have to take smaller bites and chew, chew, chew. If you attempt to guzzle down large amounts of food you will suffer from pain and then you will cough the food up. Most of us refer to the pain as a golfball for it does feel like you have swallowed a golfball. And as for the puking up, it is kind of like a cat coughing up a furball, we call it a productive burp or PB.

Unfortunately certain head hunger foods go down real easy and that is known as eating around the band. This is an unwise move because this does interfere with the weight loss and leaves the bandster feeling guilty and bummed out. :think We all do it from time to time though and is because we are human. :phanvan

hi sherilynn....I too WAS diabetic....on insulin 15 long years....

was at 100 u Humlin BID...PLUS orals....

The secret I learned is not "I am diabetic so I have to be sure to eat enough to keep my sugars up."....

it was 'learning to eat RIGHT enough to keep my sugars DOWN'....

I've been off the needle for 18 months....

Jack - you are giving me hope!!! I was diagnosed 25 years ago. Went on insulin immediately then lost weight and went on orals meds until 11 years ago when I was ready to conceive (cannot take oral meds if you want to conceive or are pregnant).

I never went off insulin after that. I currently take 48 units of Levimir which is a 24 basal insulin and take Novorapid (which works within 15 mins and finished by 3 hours) with every meal depending on the carbs I eat. Some meals I don't take any because I am not eating carbs at all.

I have always doubted that I would get off insulin, but now you are giving me some hope. Thank you for posting about your experience.

You wrote:

If you eat a bite or two and your desire to eat more remains....you aren't feeding 'real' hunger....

Is that saying, two bites should curb my hunger? Satisfy the tummy?

I guess I struggle with 'enough food to fuel the body'. I suppose that should not be a concern, as I'm not an athlete.

I don't think it is a matter of whether or not you are an athlete, it's more a matter of realizing that fat is stored energy. When you run out of food to burn for the day, you'll burn fat and that really is our goal.

We don't eat to feel full, we now eat to feel satisfied. Big huge difference.

Can't thank Jack and Wasabubblebutt enough for the wisdom and encouragement. I'm having a little trouble here with being stuck on a plateau and reading their comments helps a huge amount. Thanks guys!!

I found this while googling 'stages of physical hunger'.

Thought it was something worth sharing! As I believe that many of us DO loose the ability to feel actual 'hunger'!!

Step Three: Physical Hunger vs. Emotional Eating

Learning to distinguish when physical hunger ends and emotional eating begins is essential to identifying your emotional eating issues and patterns. Just by being more active, as you have been doing in Phases One and Two, you have enhanced your ability to become physically hungry.

Feeling Physical Hunger

If you deal with your emotions by using food, you may have actually lost the ability to feel physical hunger. You must allow yourself to become hungry. To do this, delay your eating past your normal meal times to experience the actual sensation of physical hunger. You may feel anxiety and stress at first, but these emotions need to be experienced in order to make a permanent change. The goal is to get to know your body so you eat only when you are physically hungry.

Note: if you have a medical condition such as diabetes, you should consult your physician.

Why are you eating?

In order to re-learn how to eat according to the demands of your physical hunger, you need to get into the habit of knowing exactly why you're eating whenever you eat.

If you deal with your emotions by using food, you may have actually lost the ability to feel physical hunger. You must allow yourself to become hungry. To do this, delay your eating past your normal meal times to experience the actual sensation of physical hunger.

As a bandster, I have to disagree with this statement. I'm not saying we need to rigidly schedule our meals and never deviate from that routine, but I've found that if I let myself get too hungry I almost always eat too fast and make myself sick. As a diabetic, here's what I have done (and I'm now off ALL diabetes meds since about three weeks post-op). I follow Supreme Band Rule #1 (I made that up, like it?) and eat my Protein first, then my green veggies, then any low GI carb source last (only if there's room). I am eating very low-carb by default. I also eat a little something every few hours, for a couple of reasons. First, until I am off meds for at least a year I still consider myself diabetic and try to avoid hypo episodes at all cost. Second, that helps to boost your metabolism and keeps the weight loss going.

As for your original topic of head hunger, I think we all have to deal with that to a point. I haven't found any magic bullet for it yet. :phanvan

As a bandster, I have to disagree with this statement. I'm not saying we need to rigidly schedule our meals and never deviate from that routine, but I've found that if I let myself get too hungry I almost always eat too fast and make myself sick. As a diabetic, here's what I have done (and I'm now off ALL diabetes meds since about three weeks post-op). I follow Supreme Band Rule #1 (I made that up, like it?) and eat my Protein first, then my green veggies, then any low GI carb source last (only if there's room). I am eating very low-carb by default. I also eat a little something every few hours, for a couple of reasons. First, until I am off meds for at least a year I still consider myself diabetic and try to avoid hypo episodes at all cost. Second, that helps to boost your metabolism and keeps the weight loss going.

As for your original topic of head hunger, I think we all have to deal with that to a point. I haven't found any magic bullet for it yet. :phanvan

I didn't read the other post that way, I read it as a test of sorts. The idea I got from the article was to do this ONCE and ONCE only for the mere purpose of feeling actual hunger, not something to be done on a regular basis.

I didn't read the other post that way, I read it as a test of sorts. The idea I got from the article was to do this ONCE and ONCE only for the mere purpose of feeling actual hunger, not something to be done on a regular basis.

I like that a lot better! Guess I read it wrong. But did you like Supreme Band Rule #1??!?? :biggrin1:

I think that when you are truly hungry you will want to eat almost anything - you will want real food - but when you are suffering from head hunger then you are specifically hungry for a treat. This may be a sweet or a salty carb depending on your personal weakness.

I like how you think. I will remember if I want a treat its probably just head hunger. I think that probably a very true statement for me. I believe it will help me over come some of my chocolate addictions. Thanks